The Padres are slated to make at least two modifications to manager Andy Green’s coaching staff in the offseason, according to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Hitting coach Matt Stairs and infield coach Josh Johnson will not return to their posts.
Stairs, a long-time MLB slugger, joined the Friars after serving in the same capacity with the Phillies in 2017. He lost that job when the Philadelphia organization made broader changes to its field staff. Prior to that point, Stairs had served mostly as a broadcaster after wrapping up his playing career in 2011.
As for Johnson, not to be confused with the former starting pitcher of the same name, he too will be bumped from the mix after just one season. The former third-round draft pick never made it to the majors as a player. His only prior coaching experience came in one season as the skipper of the Nationals’ Gulf Coast League affiliate.
Despite these changes, it does not appear that the San Diego organization will be embarking on a full hiring search. Rather, per the report, the club intends to promote existing personnel to fill the openings.
I find it interesting that a lot of the MLB hitting coaches who are ex-MLB players were all or nothing swingers. Matt was a great pinch hitter, however that is what a pinch hitter should do. I bet he will get picked up by another organization soon.
Ah yes, the deck chairs off the Titanic approach.
**Spoiler Alert** – the Padres will still be horrific next year even if they resurrect Ted Williams from the grave to be their hitting instructor and hire Sandy Koufax to be their pitching coach.
Can’t make chicken salad out of chicken s**t.
I can’t stand chicken salad with nuts in it. Apples and celery is ok, I guess though.
Only celery.
Pecans work well in the one from Costco, grapes are my chicken salad kryptonite
I got coleslaw with raisins in it recently. Off topic, but what kind of monster does that?
I doubt whether they are interested in replacing their pitching coach in the first place. There’s a reason Balsley is the longest tenured pitching coach in MLB.
hasn’t done much for the Padres
Jake Peavy, Mat Latos, Tyson Ross, Heath Bell, Huston Street, Brad Hand, Kirby Yates, Dale Thayer, Mike Adams, Luke Gregerson and Fernando Rodney all say hi.
so true
It’s easier to fire a hitting coach than it is to admit you’ve got a huge problem with scouting and deveopment.
The San Diego Padres ranked dead last in MLB On-Base percentage in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. Sounds like literally anyone will be an upgrade.
An anemic offense will be just that, anemic. A hitting coach can’t really fix an entire lineup at a foundational level.
They can make them worse as Stairs did. The only Padres players that improved in 2018 were those that publicly ignored his advice.
Except he was only hitting coach for 2018. Can’t make good hitters out of thin air.
But you can certainly hurt them in one year. He did. He lost his job.
1 year is too small of a sample size. He just took the bullet. Green should be the one getting fired.
Hitting coaches get to use the “small sample size” excuse? I don’t think so.
Stairs began with a 6-week long “hitting camp” last December in San Diego. Worked well, don’t you think?
Matt Stairs would be the perfect cleanup hitter in slo-pitch.
Why isn’t Andy Green fired instead? He has been here for the majority of the 5 year span in which we’ve been last in OBP. Stairs was here for one year in which Renfroe and Reyes both gained noticeable improvements on their plate discipline but he gets the AXE? Very Interesting.
Puppet manager. Tired of him.
Andy Green is not the hitting coach though, so idk why you would blame him for the something that’s not even his job.
When you over-see a department within your company because you manage the whole thing, you deserve blame. Period. It’s the way it is, he has brought in multiple guys to fix the issue and it hasn’t happened, so people need to stop scape goating with Green.
The Padres will compete when they have a manager that has a passion to win and will do whatever it takes to get there. Kevin Cash was literally given trash and he turned it into 90 wins. His rotation was on the DL or sucked so he stepped in front of the pitching coach and said I’m the manager and we are going to do this… then the opener was born. Why can’t Andy do that with the OBP, he’s the manager. Fix it.
Billy Beane did it withe A’s in 2003. He called all of his minor league managers and told them they needed to get players to take more walks. After about 6 weeks his AA team wasn’t responding, so he called the manager back and said, “If you can’t get your players to start taking walks immediately, you’re fired.” Their OBP went up.
It can be done.
BTW … when the GM controls your lineup, is it still on the manager?
I dunno.
Might’ve been possible in 2003, but not now. I don’t think there’s a player in baseball anymore who’s not at least considering their OBP- whether they like it or not, they’re all aware that teams are paying you not to make outs. The Padres’ players just haven’t been talented enough to get on base consistently.
Yeah. I guess that explains the record number of strikeouts in MLB? League avg K-rate was 25.1%. Changing to an uppercut swing to “increase launch angle” actually decreases OBP.
It’s what happens when analysts with little knowledge of the actual game of baseball get to push the buttons on the controller.
Kevin Cash has Cy Young award winner and Green has Clayton Richard really dude
Andy Green has continually mismanaged his team, sitting hot players, playing guys who don’t match up well, leaving in pitchers too long, etc.
No, Green can’t make them hit the ball, but his pathetic presence in the clubhouse makes it a losing environment.
Hunter Renfroe made the changes asked of him, increasing his OBP, not chasing pitches out of the zone, hitting righty pitching with authority, he was still sitting.
Preller’s pick up of Hosmer, well, I like Eric, nothing personal, but Hoz created a logjam. Maybe more like Myers created one for himself…
Myers played a mediocre 1st Base, no one wants Wil’s contract, we have to play him because he’s good for 25+ hr 80rbi per year, but at what defensive cost.
Mejia was a great pick up, but we have Hedges, he’s a pitchers catcher.
Preller needs to be on the road, scouting, he’s a damn good scout. GM, not so much…
It’s his responsibility. The manager sets the hitting philosophy. He tells the hitting coach what he wants him to teach. Stairs is Green’s friend which is why he was hired.
Why wasn’t Preller fired?
and horrible GM
Stairs got the axe partly because Renfroe, Hedges, and Reyes all said that they started ignoring his advice and going back to what they learned from Burkhart and then we all saw improvement from them.
Quote?
Read the Padres site. Do a search for each players name and read through the articles.
You made the claim. That burden is on you, not saavedra.
I read the same articles, except for the one on Reyes, so I can vouch.
In fact, Jankowski is part of that group as well. After trying it Stairs way, he said he went back to the same swing and approach he’d had since college. Next thing you know, he’s slapping the ball around and leading the team in OBP.
Link?
yeah, without a credible source, your comment stands on thin air. You don’t send the people who question you to make a search, you provide them with evidence.
I wouldn’t take the Padres hitting coach job unless I got a 3-year contract.
And you would still get fired after one season if you were as bad as Stairs was.
Probably, but I still wouldn’t take it on a one year deal. Basically the same story as the Nats’ managerial position.
Matt Stairs used to hit some bombs lol
mark loretta would be an ideal candidate for replacement. or perhaps steve finley. maybe mark kotsay even. i’d like to see adrian gonzalez make his way back to SD as a coach in some role eventually as well. brian giles would have been higher atop my list, but last i recall he had been in some controversy, i doubt many would want him around or back him from a public standpoint unless they’re extremely die hard padres fans
link to sandiegouniontribune.com
Not a chance Brian Giles is hired by the Padres in any capacity.
yikes. couldn’t remember exactly what is what that went down. figured sexual harassment given the current climate, but yeah. that’s a guarantee to not see meaningful employment anytime in the near future
Would you take that job? Stairs is the 5th hitting coach fired by the Padres in 5 years, beginning with Plantier after the 2014 season. It won’t matter who they hire next.
I think the problem goes deeper, and it starts with development in the minor leagues. The job of the hitting coach at the ML level is to refine and polish your swing, help with your approch, and keep you in sync. It is NOT to teach a player how to hit – that’s what the minors are for.
Exactly Dog
Kotsay was the hitting coach in SD in ‘15. Pass.
funny, i completely forgot about that already
Plantier was fired after ’14. Kotsay replaced him for the 15 season. Pretty clear.
Per the article: The replacements are already working for the organization. So you can cancel out Kotsay or Adrian.
I could see Loretta getting either the hitting coach gig or the infield job.
Finley could possibly become the hitting coach, maybe they promote Barajas so you can have a Latin hitting coach who can communicate better with the likes of Margot, Villanueva, Urias, Mejia, Reyes, Cordero, Tatis, etc. Not too sure what direction they plan to head in.
didn’t catch that tidbit the first time around, and apparently now it’s being reported gonzo is hoping to play in 2019 so nix that wish as well
barajas i’m really hoping becomes our interim manager by july once green gets the boot. barajas and loretta in the dugout with balsley could be a great coaching group. but again, another wish of mine
Until Preller goes, it won’t matter a whole lot who manages the team. He’ll just be another puppet with no control over who plays or pitches.
Somehow Preller fires guys every year year and loses but keeps job. Keep selling those prospects
Morgan Burkhart.
How about we find a guy who has already been a “successful hitting coach” instead?
Barry Bonds
He and McGwire can teach the guys the best drugs to take without getting caught. All the Padres players will go back to having acne all over and balloon up 40 lbs of muscle in one offseason.
can we nab a guy like dave hudgens from the astros? are mickey hatcher or rudy jaramillo busy doing anything? that’d be nice obviously but sometimes a guy like edgar martinez can come in a be just as good of a coach as he was a hitter. was just hoping a loretta or finley could help guide our younger hitters as well.
Hitting coaches so overrated. Padres are hot mess. They fire them every year. Who was Tony Gwynn batting coach? These guys they bring up are clueless. Minors are supposed to be teaching and evaluating
Hitting coaches aren’t overrated. Any half awake Padres fan in the last 25 years knew about the relationship Tony and Merv had.
“When Merv first became the Padres’ hitting coach, he struck up a close relationship with Gwynn, who won four of his eight National League batting titles with Rettenmund as the hitting coach. “Merv was great at seeing the smallest things,” Gwynn said of Rettenmund.Jan 19, 2017”
link to padres.mlblogs.com
He observed and he refined. Good. That’s what a major league hitting coach should do. He did not make wholesale changes.
Yep…..unfortunately we haven’t had a good hitting coach since Merv!
Tony won titles because of Merv. Lol
Tony said so. So you are calling Tony a liar?
Josh Johnson was fired for not making Wil Myers look good at 3B and Matt Stairs for Hosmers inability to hit.
Half joking, but both coaches had an uphill battle.
And … Johnson couldn’t turn Pirela into a second baseman. They didn’t even know where they should be on cutoffs. That’s pathetic in the major leagues.
Those guys didn’t have an “uphill battle” – they had an impossible task. And I don’t know what Stairs was thinking trying to completely change guys’ swings. IMO, that was just stupid.
Hmmmm shocked. Didn’t see this coming….
Any wagers on the exact same post being on here next offseason? Padres replace hitting coach…… again
I’d take the over on that happening
Doesn’t seem to matter with the Padres who is coaching….their hitters continue to be at or near the bottom of the league year after year in OBP and OPS.. Sell the team and spare the fans anymore of this farce. Haven’t lived there in more than 30+ years and it was the same back then.
Player development and fundamentals. It starts in Rookie ball. Supposedly.
Look at the strikeout and walk totals of the “prospects” in the minors and the pathetic OBP at the majors shouldn’t be a surprise. Aside from Urias, most of the prospects strike out a ton, hit a lot of homers, but aren’t high on OBP. Renfroe, Hedges, Cordero, Reyes, etc… all struggled with OBP in the minors but had power and moved up quickly.
Renfroe – .352 OBP in AAA.
Hedges – .367 OBP in AAA.
Cordero – .364 OBP in AAA.
Reyes – .428 OBP in AAA.
Morgan Burkhart is the hitting coach there.
El Paso Team OBP/Lg rank:
2018 – .341/9th
2017 – .349/5th
2016 – .348/2nd
You can learn a lot from a player’s minor league numbers, but they’re still minor league numbers.
He said they stunk in the minors. They didn’t. They were all above average.
Padres are an inept franchise, who is devoid of talent or the funds to aquire it. Franmil is the first quality in house prospect. I think this starts from the lack of fan support which carries all the way up to payroll, when dodgers play down there is like a home game lol. Beautiful ballpark wish they would be competitive might be in another city.
Somebody hasn’t been paying attention.
The Padres could trade their top 8 prospects…who are ALL in the top 100,and still have a top 5 Farm system.
It’s coming…..
Wow give them a cookie
Thanks for the hard-hitting analysis Johnny Superscout!
Hunter Renfroe, Manuel Margot, Austin Hedges and Joey Lucchesi say hi.
And we will see how names like Fernando Tatis Jr, Luis Urias, Francisco Mejia and Logan Allen perform next year. I know prospects are no sure bet, but the same logic applies to other teams’ prospects as well.
Ryan what so great about Hedges, Margot, Lucchesi?
Two full years in the starting lineup, and Margot regressed. I doubt he ever lives up to the hype and propaganda.
It was more a bad slump to start the season than regression in Margot’s case. He’s still A++ on defense either way.
Jankowski is arguably better on defense.
A slump to “start” the season? He didn’t get above the Mendoza Line until May 25th. His power was down, his walks were down, his whiffs were up, and he still can’t run the bases.
I’m not sure he’s going to get much better than what we’ve seen.
A slump can go on for two months. Happens all the time. He didn’t pull out of it until June but at least he did pull out of it.
Even if he doesn’t get any better (which I think he will) he’s still an elite defender.
link to baseballsavant.mlb.com. He is not arguably better than Margot on defense.
Yes, arguably. Statcast has holes too. Lots of them.
Margot was also playing hurt for the first half of the season. May have had something to do with it.
Hedges is the same player as Sal Perez; a great defensive catcher who doesn’t get on base but has a little pop – Perez is a prennial all-star, but Hedges is basically the same guy. Margot had a tough year because of injury but, hey, he’s still an elite defensive center fielder – Kevin Kiermeier is a good comp. Lucchesi is 25 and struck out more than a batter an inning in his rookie season with a 1.29 WHIP. It wasn’t a stellar rookie campaign but it was very good and if he can suppress the homers a bit he’ll be a very good pitcher. The major-league baseball being different than the minor-league ball is probably going to initially skew the stats of minor-league pitchers as they make the big leagues
After they are convicted of FCPA and RICO statute violations, the Dodgers might not even be a MLB team anymore.
link to fangraphs.com
The Dodgers are just the headline. Given Preller’s proven lack of respect for international scouting rules, he might want to keep his head down, too. This investigation is MLB-wide.
The Padres have a bunch of good players developed in-house – Hedges, Reyes, Villanueva can hit but can’t field, Renfroe has been quietly putting it together, Urias, Gore….they aren’t inept – they were set back by the owners’ odd decision to go “all-in” in 2015 set them back but Preller has hired some good analytics people to fill that side of the front office and the two trades – for Mejia and Tatis Jr. were pretty savvy. Not yet sure about Margot, as he backe up considerably in 2018 but was also hurt for much of the first half. The pitching has not advanced as quickly as the hitting, but I think the Padres are in a good place despite the bad 2018 results.
Who was Babe Ruth hitting coach? Rod Carew? Ken Griffey Jr?
Matt Stairs or Chili Davis? Cubs stand pat or make a change?
Stairs was brought in the increase the OBP and it decreased. The only players that progressed were ones that publicly said they stopped following his advice. All three said that they went back to what Morgan Burkhart had worked with them on in AAA. Hopefully, he is the guy that is hired instead of another of Green’s friends like Stairs.
Ozzie Guillen or Omar Visquel would be ideal for the Latin American players and San Diego as well Omar would be his first shot so I would give it to him with Ozzie as asst only because of Ozzie’s political mess up – but his non nonsense ways would balance with laid back Visquel…
The problem is that both those guys were allergic to walks (vizquel not as much, but Ozzie never walked) , which is sort of the Padres’ main problem.
Always enjoyed Matt Stairs’ work as a broadcaster. If the Blue Jays / Rogers have any sense they will drop the insufferable Pat Tabler from their broadcasts and hire Matt Stairs.